


Maybe next time

by QueenOfSkaro



Series: AUs [2]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: First Love, Fluff, Gen, Kid!Ori - Freeform, M/M, Mario Kart, Modern AU, Nori as actual good big brother, Playdates, Pre-Slash, Slash, bestfriends Ori and Kili, big brothers Fili and Nori, kid!Kíli, teen!Fili, youngadult!Nori
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 18:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3820981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfSkaro/pseuds/QueenOfSkaro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fili is always taking care of Kili and regularly, by extension, his best friend Ori.<br/>He clearly needs someone to take care of him, too.</p><p>Younger Siblings are best friends AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe next time

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wrote a little something again.  
> I don't have much time to write anymore,  
> so now it's 2am and my baby is due to wake up any minute again.  
> I hope you still like it, even full of mistakes  
> because I'm terribly out of practice.  
> Feel free to point anything too horrible out for me to change.  
> Now have fun!

It wasn't that he was angry that he was stuck with babysitting-duty - again - but it wasn't as if he had nothing better to do either. Fili had a whole lot of homework sitting at home, waiting for him to have a little time to work on. The last weeks were hectic and stressful and the blonde knew his mom did her best, but that didn't change the fact that he was alone with his little brother almost all the time, trying to accomodate the hyperactive little brat, his school and keeping their apartment relatively clean. He was a little overstrained, but he would keep his mouth shut and wait until their situation got better again. It wasn't his mothers fault that they were in a tight place financially and she had to work all day to keep them fed and clothed after his father just up and left them with a huge dept to pay back. He guessed he should consider himself lucky that she had put her foot down when his uncle Thorin suggested Fili getting a job too. He supposed he should, make it easier for his mom, but he just didn't have the time. Most nights he slept just a couple of hours after he finished what homework was due the next day, in between sending Kili, his brother to bed again four times within an hour. That boy had serious energy reserves and the older never had a good chance at depleting them, even when they spend the biggest part of the day outside, letting the dark haired run circles around the park with his older brother watching him like a hawk.

It was wednesday, which meant that Kili wasn't the only child he had to watch. Little Ori, just shy of ten years old, was there with them, playing hide and seek at the moment, looking through bushes and shrubs for the dark haired Durin.  
Ori and Kili were best friends since practically forever and this wednesday play-date was set up roughly around the same time (right along the monday playgroup were they got joined by Kilis and Filis cousin Gimli and the neighbours son Bilbo, thursdays trip to the nearby indoor playground with the same four children plus Frodo, Bilbos three year old brother and saturday sleepovers, where it was just Ori and Kili again, alternating between the Rivers household and the Durin apartment, depending on who had more sweets available). Fili didn't exactly minded watching over all those children, playing with them and making sure they behaved - be it eating various greens -- Ori -- potty training -- Frodo -- homework -- Kili -- or not hitting others -- Gimli - but sometimes he had the feeling he was missing out. 

He was seventeen years old, just the right age to sneak out of his window - which, alright, not exactly advisable with their apartment being on the fourth floor - go out with his friends, date a bunch of losers and get his heart broken. Or maybe he should break a few hearts - he was alright to look at, he supposed, with a little effort he could be quite fetching.  
But it was a moot point to think about, really, because as for everything else he just didn't have the time, nor the energy at the end of the day to bother with any of this.  
He woke up early to make breakfast for his brother and himself - his mom coming home just before dawn from her job as a waitress - making sure the brat didn't get any additional sugar to eat - because that was something no one wanted to deal with - and then got both of them to school. He picked Kili back up on his way home, making a twenty minute detour there and back, because his own school was nearer at their flat and made lunch. Some days their mom already managed to throw something together, most days she was already gone again to some job or another and then they would work at their homework, Kili needing him for help most of the time so he himself didn't get anything done, really. And then it was a matter of making Kili tired, going down to the park or the basketball court or the sport ground. At least he stayed fit that way too. When they got home they cleaned up, ate something and fought to get Kili to stay in bed. If he had any energy left he would do school work until he slept, most nights lying on his books and waking up with ink smudges on his face he never get off completely. 

There just wasn't any time left in his day for something as irrelevant as dating. Even if he had, maybe, set his eyes on someone. He was a teenager, of course he had a crush. As long as he kept in mind not to dwell on it too long it was perfectly alright, he told himself. And if that someone was, by any chance, a not so distant relative of Oris, well, it wasn't as if he was overly obvious - at least he hoped not. 

Nori, Oris older brother, was everything Fili wasn't and even with his full blown crush he hated the redhead a little bit for it. Because Nori was free to do whatever he wanted. Some days he would accompany Ori to their playdate and they would talk and Nori would laugh - carefree and mischievious and light, while all Fili managed most days was a little smile for anyone that wasn't his brother. But Nori tried, every time, to make the blonde laugh - that's what he thought, at least, because no one ever was quite as dedicated while telling this or that story, but it could just be Nori, of course. Fili only ever saw the young man with both his brothers and there wasn't any wild story telling involved with Dori, the oldest brother and care taker. 

"And you won't believe the face she made, I swear I almost bit my lip bloody not to laugh at her because it was hilarious an' then she -" The redhead was in the middle of one of his "adventures", something about some girl, sitting on the bench next to him, but Fili didn't really listen, if he was honest. The voice of the nineteen year old alone was enough to get him to relax a little, letting his otherwise stiff shoulders slump a little, while he came down from his latest coffee high. He had two exams next week and he had to learn a lot to even have a chance to pass them, so he couldn't afford to sleep last night and he could feel it taking it's toll. Three times he had to force his eyes open again in the last five minutes so he wouldn't fall asleep right where he sat.

Even if he didn't actively listen it was still blatantly obvious when the voice stopped and silence stretched between them. It wasn't exactly tense, because Fili wasn't present enough to get anxious, but it wasn't companiable either. A look out of the corner of his eye showed Nori staring at him with clear, calculative eyes, a crease between his red eyebrows and pursed lips. It was a look that made the blonde feel extremely insecure. Was he supposed to say something? Did Nori ask him a question?  
"Uhm...yeah?", he tried cautiously, speaking slow and watching Noris reaction, which was a loud snort and a head shake, before the older stood up and grabbed his arm to get him to stand too.

"Oi ye' little devils, get yer butts here now. We're leavin'.", he hollered over the grounds, getting a handful of parents to look at them and over a dozen children turning to them with attention. Before Fili could do more than splutter a few choice words - he wasn't sure they could even be connected to a sentence, he just spit out what came to his mind - their brothers stood in front of them, wearing huge pouts and even bigger puppy eyes.  
"Stop tha' and I let ye watch the telly when we get home." Nori enticed with a wriggle of his eyebrows and grinned when it had the desired effect of little whoops of joy. They started to walk in the direction of Noris flat. At least that's what the blonde assumed, because he was never there before and they weren't heading to Doris apartment.

"You can't let them watch tv. Kili won't sleep tonight if we go now and you know him long enough to know that." Fili groused, digging his heels in at last in an attempt to stop, but the red haired just pulled him further along, seemingly effortless and if that wasn't just unfair Fili didn't know what was.  
"And? Not gonna be yer problem." was the answer.  
"Not my - of course it is my problem! I'm the one ending up to beg him to just stay in his bed, not you. What's it with you? Look, I'm sorry I didn't listen, but it's not okay to be an ass about that now." Nori just shot him an unimpressed look and continued to take them further away from the park. Fili sighed frustrated and resigned in equal measures and just followed.

They didn't have to walk much longer. Noris flat lay in an old, run down apartment complex that must have seen way better days, but at least the front door was intact and the lift working, bringing them up seven floors and into a little one bedroom place where Filis fingers itched to clean up a little. He needed just one look to see three worn socks around the living room and he was pretty sure that they were all from different pairs.  
"Didn't exactly expected visitors, but ye'll manage." was all the redhead said to his defense, to which Fili scoffed.  
"When I'm being dragged here I'm not exactly a visitor, am I?"  
"Oh shut up, now, and go in there."

Ori and Kili sat down at the couch and had the tv going in five seconds flat, while Nori took his arm again and took him through one of the doors. He got a little red around the nose as he saw that it was the bedroom.  
"Wha - " he started, but was shoved down onto the bed with something that was definitely not a scream.  
"Ye're dead on yer feet, don't deny it. I'll manage the brats while ye sleep. I even make sure they eat something." And with that Fili was alone in a bedroom he wanted to be in for close to two years now. That wasn't exactly how he pictured that.

The urge to stand up again was strong, because he couldn't just leave his little brother alone, but he forced himself to take a deep breath. Nori was there and it wasn't as if anything could happen, really, in a flat that spanned roughly the space of ones outstretched arms. He would be fine. Probably.  
So he forced himself to lie flat on his back, still unsure and uneasy about what just happened, but he was just too tired to ponder it for long and mere minutes later he was fast asleep, face pressed into pillows that smelled of sunshine and freckles and a laugh that he dreamed of more nights than he cared to remember. 

 

He woke up later with a start, hearing screams from the other room and before his mind could process anything more than the fact that it was Kilis enraged cry he was out of the bed and standing in the middle of the living room, needing a little while to take in the scene in front of him.  
Kili wasn't in mortal danger, but thrown half on top of Nori, who half lay on the floor, xbox controller in hand and a bright grin on his face, even though the ten year old was boxing him in his ribs and screaming directly into his ear. Next to them lay another controller, completely forgotten. Ori, still sitting on the couch, was looking at the game in utter concentration, tongue poking out between his lips, before he huffed indignant and threw his controller onto the table, just barely missing the large box of tuna pizza.

"Ha, got ya! Told ya ye didn't stand a chance against me, munchkin." Nori said satisfied, throwing his brother a bright grin and ending the game that was obviously Mario Kart. Then he looked at Fili, still half buried under the dark haired Durin and grinning and the blonde was sure he never was more attractive than in this exact moment.  
"Sorry, didn't want to wake ye, but it got a little out of hand. Hungry?"  
And Fili needed to swallow a couple of times before he could remind himself again that this was as far as he got with his silly little crush - that maybe wasn't all that small, if his heart rate was anything to go by.  
"Yeah, starving." he settled on and set down on the couch next to Ori, who smiled at him and then started a new game with Kili. Pizza wasn't really what he wanted Kili to eat for dinner, but it was a meal he didn't need to prepare and right now he was just grateful for that. Ori vacated his place in favor of the floor and Nori sat down in his stead, looking at him strangely.

"Something on my face?" the blonde asked after he finished the first piece and the redhead was still staring and really, it was freaking him out since the beginning, but it wasn't getting any better.  
"You still look tired." he said in a soft voice, so different from his usual tone. "You should go back to bed."

And yeah, maybe that was a really nice thought, going back to lie down in Noris bed, as if the older really wanted him there - like that -, as if it was perfectly normal to tell Fili to go lay down in that tone of voice, but he had to shake his head - first and foremost to get the idea out of there, because it was so tempting he wanted to say yes so bad.  
"Can't, we need to go home. Mom's gonna flip right about now and there's still stuff to do and Kili really needs to go to bed too. But, you know - thanks. Really. For looking after him." And for taking care of Fili, too, because no one really did that anymore and for being so adorably perfect, for playing and roughhousing with Kili with an energy Fili just didn't have anymore. Nori perked up a little.  
"Already called her, you can just stay here. I drive you home tomorrow to get your things for school and then I throw you out in time for classes."

Blinking, Fili asked himself if he just imagined the eager voice or if Nori really wanted them here and if that was the case - why? But Nori was already on the next subject, talking a mile a minute, leaning back on the couch with a satisfied smile on his lips and the seventeen year old didn't want to protest any further at that, so he just grinned too, took another piece of pizza and watched Ori destroy his little brother in Mario Kart. And if there suddenly lay an arm around his shoulders half an hour later he pretended that it was normal, just like the older did, while he leant a little against the others chest and let himself get lulled to sleep by a fast, steady heartbeat.

 

They kinda slept like that for the night, with the boys send off to the only bed in the apartment and Nori just arranging them more comfortable on the couch, until Fili was practically draped over him. At least that's what he hoped as he woke up just after dawn, nose pressed into the others neck and inhaling his scent with every breath he took. He was torn between being horrified and pulling away, or just close his eyes again to snuggle closer, because he couldn't remember ever being more comfortable than right now, with the others arms around his waist, warm breath in his hair and his hand upon a lithe, strong chest. With a sigh he made to pull away, but the arms around him tightened at once.  
"Sleep." came the rough comment, together with a nose clearly pressed more closely into his hair. A shiver ran down his spine at the intimacy, but he reminded himself to get a grip. Nori was very obviously more asleep than awake and Fili couldn't take advantage of it.  
"Can't. I need to make breakfast."  
"There's still pizza."

And just no, there would never be a day where the blonde would let his little brother have cold pizza for breakfast as long as he had any say in it.  
"Are you serious?" he asked indignantly, lifting his head so he was able to look down into bleary green eyes.  
"When ye ask like that, probably not."

Incredulous he stared for a few seconds, before he started to chuckle. He tried to bite his lip but to no avail, so he hid his face against the others neck again as the chuckle grew to a fullblown laugh, shaking his whole body and taking tension with it he didn't even knew was there. The arms around him tightened again as Nori threw in the occasional chuckle and for a few minutes Fili just reveled in the others close proximity. Everything around him right now was - Nori - pure and simple and he soaked everything up to remember in the near future when he wouldn't have it anymore. Right now though he was breathless and laughing for the first time in - he didn't really remember the last time and that was pretty telling in and off itself, he had to admit, and it was all Noris doing. Nori, who took care of him even if he didn't need to. Who just took him home with him so he could get a few hours much needed sleep.

With a last little chuckle he lifted his head again to look at the young man, who looked entirely too smug to be healthy, but his look softened as he gazed into the youngers clear blue eyes. They stared at each other, still smiling and completely immersed in the others presence and it was a moment, Fili realized. Not just any moment, but -- a moment -- and this could decide what was going to happen to this crush he harbored. He knew he shouldn't want this, shouldn't even think about it, but the reasons against it just didn't came to his mind as he slowly, carefully lowered his head, eyes still fixed on dilated black on green, reducing the distance between them, fully intending -

It doesn't really matter what he intended, because the bedroom door opened and Fili sat straight before Kili fully stopped rubbing his eyes sleepily.  
"Woke me." he mumbled before he climbed into his older brothers lap, curled up and promptly went back to sleep. Nori snorted, only half amused, but then he sighed and stroked through his hair, trying to tame it at least a little from the birds nest it reduced itself to like every night. Then he sat up too and threw the blonde a look, before he stood up and went to the kitchen, at least wanting to try to get the kids a more or less healthy breakfast.

Maybe they would continue this -- this, whatever this was what they almost had for a second --, maybe it would be important enough to both of them, or maybe it just wasn't. Right now there was everyday life to tackle, kids to feed and school to go to. 

Maybe next time.


End file.
